Ensure Canada has a solid surveillance system for monitoring and reporting overdoses and deaths related to opioids.

What success looks like

Effective monitoring and reporting of overdoses and deaths related to opioids.

Government's narrative on progress

The government is committed to releasing updated data on a quarterly basis, in collaboration with provinces and territories. The government is also working with provinces and territories to collect additional data on opioid use and harms. On September 18, 2018, the government released data for the first quarter of 2018 on apparent opioid-related deaths in Canada and suspected opioid-related overdoses in seven jurisdictions across Canada based on emergency medical service data. On December 12, 2018, the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) released three publications related to the national opioid crisis including: • the seventh National report on apparent opioid-related deaths with new national data for the first half of 2018 and updated data from January 2016 to March 2018; • the third report on suspected opioid-related overdoses reported by Emergency Medical Services (EMS) from nine provinces and territories, and; • key findings from a special analysis looking at the impact of the opioid overdose epidemic on life expectancy at birth in Canada. In addition, the Canadian Institute for Health Information, in collaboration with PHAC, released updates to 2016 and 2017 data on hospitalizations and emergency department visits due to opioid poisoning.

Note: this is the government's own description, not an independent assessment.